Bodh Gaya blasts: Have to check authenticity of Indian Mujahideen claims, says Sushil Kumar Shinde

Calling the Bodh Gaya blasts "alarming", Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said the authenticity of claims made by the Indian Mujahideen have to be authenticated before the government arrives at any conclusion. He also said the government will investigate the incident from all possible angles and will not arrest anyone in hurry. The Home Minister was accompanied by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior party leader Ambika Soni.

In the three days since the blasts, there has been more politics than headway in investigations. Yesterday the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh and other party leaders toured the temple and slammed the Central government for failing to tackle terror. Another BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who criticised the Home Minister for visiting the site three days after the blasts, also toured the temple premises.

Addressing the reporters in Gaya, Mr Shinde said the Centre is considering the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) cover at various religious sites in the country including the Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Maharashtra and Delhi's Jama Masjid.

Based on the Delhi Police alert sent out in October last year, Mr Shinde said the Bihar Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police had taken a review of the Buddhist site on July 3 and spoke to the local security force there.

The Home Minister said the Centre acted the moment blasts occurred. "We sent teams immediately by air, but due to bad weather, the flight had to turn back," he said. The flight reached Gaya the following day.

The Home Minister also said the Centre has deployed two high-level teams from the National Security Guard and the National Investigation Agency to probe the multiple blasts.

The trail, however, has gone cold in the investigations. Four people, who were detained and questioned yesterday by the National Investigation Agency for suspicious movement, have been released.

The four people had checked into a hotel 200 metres from the Mahabodhi temple at 4 am and checked out at 6:30 am on Sunday. The multiple blasts took place shortly after 5 am. The hotel has shared details of the four people with the investigators.

The investigation was formally handed over to the NIA last evening by the Centre. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sought Central help for investigations and for security at the temple.

A team each from the anti-terror squads of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are among the five different teams set up by the NIA to investigate the multiple blasts.